Good question. In the narrow sense of brain/intelligence (rather than,
say, bipedalism and ecological extension, etc) the human case is pretty
anamolous, although there are episodes in other animal evolutionary
histories where brain size increase took place, as in the horse family,
and to other smaller degrees in carnivores. We would need a really much
expanded and more complete fossil record for all animals to really answer
the question. But oither "...advantageous assests..." could means a
"dramatic" change in some other morphological pattern such as the
dentition and diet, horse digit reduction, cetacean evoution from a
terrestrial base, etc., etc.
Ralph Holloway.
On Wed, 1 Feb 1995, Steve Nicholas wrote: